Prof. Konstantin Papailiou

CIGRE President

Konstantin Papailiou, President of CIGRE, brings more than four decades of experience in the power systems sector. He previously served as Chief Executive Officer of the Pfisterer Group and holds a Ph.D. from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich as well as a post doctoral degree (Dr. Ing. habil.) from the Technical University of Dresden, where he is honorary professor. Papailiou has published a number of books and over 100 papers and served as editor of several influential publications. His new role as President will see him guiding CIGRE's innovation and collaboration in power systems on a global scale.

Prof. Guo Jianbo

Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering

Vice President of Chinese Society for Electrical Engineering (CSEE)

Senior Consultant of State Grid Corporation of China

Prof. Guo Jianbo, Academician of CAE, CSEE Fellow, and senior member of IEEE, specializes in power system analysis and control. He has long engaged in all major aspects of power system analysis &control. As the principal investigator, he participated in Chinese National Programs for Three Gorges Power Transmission Project. He presided over the development plan for Chinese national grid interconnection project (from 2020 to 2050). He led his team to successfully develop the TCSC and UHV (1000kV) series compensator devices. Under his leadership, his team also developed the cross-regional AC/DC coordinated control system dramatically enhancing power grid's security, reliability and transfer capability in China. He also contributed remarkably to power grid security for wind power integration, in which he supervised the establishment of Chinese National Wind Power Integration R&D and Testing Center (NWIC), and provided a public R&D testing platform for electric power sector. He leads the research on the “Fundamental Theory of Human-in-the-loop Hybrid-augmented Intelligence for Power Grid Dispatching and Control”, a major project of Science and Technology Innovation 2030-“New Generation Artificial Intelligence”.

Jo Cops

IEC Deputy President

Mr Cops is the IEC Deputy President, having completed a three-year term as IEC President from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2025. Prior to this, he held the position of Treasurer from 1 January 2018 until the end of 2022. In parallel, he led the Belgian Electrotechnical Committee (CEB-BEC) as Secretary-General from 2012 until August 2021.

Mr Cops, who has a master's degree in engineering, has had a distinguished career in industry. He was the Director of Industry Relations at Niko, a European leader in smart home solutions. Mr Cops began his career with Sony Belgium and subsequently held various management positions within Sony Europe, followed by senior positions at Telenet (Liberty Global) and Alpha Technologies Europe.

Prof. Tang Guangfu

Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the director of Huairou Laboratory.

Tang is a recognized expert in the field of power electronics technology in power system. He has solved key technical challenges in areas such as power electronic conversion methods, driving and protection under intense electromagnetic environments, and equivalent test mechanisms. He led his team to complete the development of high-end equipment, including ±800kV LCC-HVDC converters, VSC-HVDC converters, and HVDC circuit breakers. He has successively implemented major projects and promoted the application of these technologies, with parameters ranking among the world's highest. His work has provided new means for realizing flexible and controllable power grids, long-distance large-capacity power transmission, and efficient integration of renewable energy.

Dr. Bilel Jamoussi

Deputy Director of ITU Telecommunication Standardization Bureau and Chief, Study Groups & Policy Department (SPD)

Dr Bilel Jamoussi, a distinguished engineer and diplomat, is dedicated to establishing the international standards essential for ensuring global telecommunications and ICT interoperability, promote universal, meaningful connectivity and champion sustainable digital transformation.

Key achievements under his tenure have been important new standards, ensuring increased industry engagement, bolstering cooperation with other standardization bodies, as well as leading in emerging tech discussions and building strategic partnerships.

Before 2010, he held executive roles, including Director of Standards for Nortel, and contributed to over 90 international standards bodies. With a PhD in Computer Engineering from Pennsylvania State University, he is an IEEE Senior Member and has served on the IEEESA Board of Governors. A key voice in the global ICT arena, he is a regular keynote speaker at events like the Global Cybersecurity Forum and is frequently interviewed by top media outlets.

Fluent in Arabic, French, and English, with knowledge in Spanish and German, Bilel's global perspective has been shaped by living and working in Tunisia, Canada, the USA, and Switzerland.

Prof. Anjan Bose

Member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering

Foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering

Regents Professor of Washington State University

Anjan Bose is a Regents Professor and the Distinguished Professor of Electric Power Engineering at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, where he also served as the Dean of the College of Engineering & Architecture from 1998 to 2005. In 2012-13 he served as a Senior Advisor to the US Department of Energy on the electric power grid during the Obama Administration. He is a leading researcher on the operation and control of the electric power grid. He has worked in the electric power industry as well as academe for over 50 years. Dr. Bose is a Member of the US National Academy of Engineering and a Foreign Member of both the Indian and the Chinese National Academies of Engineering. He is also a Fellow of the IEEE, a Fellow of the CSEE and a Distinguished Member of CIGRE. He was the recipient of the Outstanding Power Engineering Educator Award, the Third Millenium Medal, the Herman Halperin Electric T&D Award, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the IEEE. He was also awarded the Philip Sporn Award and the CIGRE Medal from CIGRE. He has been recognized by both Iowa State University and the Indian Institute of Technology with their distinguished alumnus awards.

Prof. Rao Hong

Chief Scientist of China Southern Power Grid (CSG)

Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering

Director of State Key Laboratory of HVDC Transmission Technology

Rao Hong is currently the Chief Scientist of China Southern Power Grid (CSG), and the Director of State Key Laboratory of HVDC Transmission Technology. He also works as the China Regular Member (RM) of CIGRE SC B4 and the General Secretary of HVDC and Power Electronics Committee of Chinese Society of Electrical Engineering. He has been dedicated to HVDC project design, construction and HVDC R&D for over 30 years. He worked as the chief designer and project manager in development of the first ±800 kV UHVDC Yunnan-Guangdong (Yunguang) project in the world, the principal researcher and project manager of the world first Multi-terminal VSC-HVDC Project (MTDC) in Nan’ao Island. He proposed numerous solutions in operation of AC/DC hybrid bulk power systems and HVDC system construction. In recent years, he conducts the R&D of high-voltage, large capacity, and hybrid MTDC-HVDC with an ongoing HVDC project of ±800kV/8000MW/5000MW/3000MW. He is the academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and received the first and second prizes of the National Science and Technology Progress Award as the first awardee. He is also the winner of IEEE PES UNO LAMM HVDC AWARD and the Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation Mechanical and Electric Technology Prize.

Nirmal Nair

CIGRE AORC Secretary

Professor of University of Auckland

Nirmal Nair has BE from M.S. University, Baroda, ME in High Voltage from IISC and PhD from Texas A and M. He has held several industry and research posts in India, USA and New Zealand. Currently, he is tenured Professor in Electrical, Computer, and Software Engineering and leads the Power Systems Group at University of Auckland, New Zealand.

For CIGRE New Zealand he has served as Secretary, Treasurer. He currently is CIGRE NZ Technical Chair guiding the start-up, growth and maturity of 10 of CIGRE SC Mirror Panels. Recently, he has been elected to serve as CIGRE Asia-Oceania Regional Council (AORC) Secretary

For CIGRE SC B5, he is Strategic Advisor and convenor of CIGRE B5 TM 53 “New Network Requirements”. He has served as Special Reporter for the Paris B5 sessions in 2018 for “Protection under System Emergency Conditions” and in 2022 for “Addressing Protection related Challenges in Networks with low Inertia and low Fault-current Levels”. He is Co-Editor of CIGRE B5 Green Book “IEC 61850 Principles and Applications to Electric Power Systems”.

He is Fellow of IEEE, Fellow of The Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association (AAIA) and received CIGRE Distinguished Member and CIGRE B5 Outstanding Service Award.

Jingxuan (Joanne) Hu

RBJ Engineering Corporation, Co-Founder and Vice President, Canada Chair of CIGRE Study Committee B4 – DC Systems and Power Electronics

Ms. Hu is the Founder and Vice President of RBJ Engineering. She received her bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1995 from Xi’an Jiaotong University, China, and her master’s degree in computer and electrical engineering in 2001 from University of Manitoba, Canada.

Ms. Hu is a power system specialist with 30 years experience across broad range of areas including EHVAC/HVAC and HVDC systems, as well as FACTS devices. Her expertise spans from front end engineering and studies to equipment and system design review, factory testing and commissioning. She has collaborated with many utilities and suppliers worldwide, as a key or lead consultant on a variety of major projects.

She is actively involved in global power engineering society and organizations, including CIGRE and IEEE and has contributed to numerous working groups within both organizations, with her primary areas of interests and focus on HVDC, Power electronics devices and HV switchgear. She is member of CIGRE Technical Council and the chair of CIGRE Study committee B4 – DC Systems and Power electronics since 2020.

Ms. Hu initiated and led the development of a new IEEE standard, “Standard for High Voltage Direct Current Circuit Breakers (DCCB) Above 3200 Vdc”, which represents the first IEEE standard on HVDC breakers. She also served as the chair of IEEE FACTS Award Committee from 2020 to 2022.

She has authored/co-authored over thirty technical papers covering various HVDC/HVAC/FACTS topics. She received IEEE Standard Association International Award in 2021 and Cigre Women in Energy (WiE) Award in 2022.

Victor Tan

Chair of CIGRE Study Committee D2

Victor Tan is the Chair of CIGRE Study Committee D2 (Information Systems, Telecommunications and Cybersecurity), leading an international network of experts across 40+ countries. He is a Registered Professional Engineer (RPEng, RPEQ) based in Adelaide, Australia, with over 20 years of experience in critical infrastructure.

His expertise spans strategy and roadmap development, as well as the design and implementation of secure, reliable solutions in information systems and telecommunications networks for power utilities. He holds an MBA and a Bachelor of Engineering with First-Class Honours in Information Technology and Telecommunications, and is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and Certified Information Security Manager (CISM).

Victor has authored seven CIGRE papers on topics including substation virtualisation, tele-protection over MPLS, and substation firewall architecture. He convened WG D2.43, producing Technical Brochure 866 on Software Defined Networking for electric power utilities, and currently leads the revision of the SC D2 Green Book. He received the CIGRE Technical Council Award in 2021 for outstanding contributions to the work of Study Committee D2.

Dr. Renuka Chatterjee

Chair of CIGRE Study Committee C2

Vice President of Operations, Midcontinent Independent

System Operator (MISO)

Dr. Renuka Chatterjee is Vice President of Operations at the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), where she provides strategic direction for grid operations and planning. She focuses on aligning multi-year business plans with operational priorities to ensure system reliability and performance. Since joining MISO in 2000, Dr. Chatterjee has held leadership roles across operations, markets, and transmission planning, and was instrumental in establishing MISO’s reliability and market services. She has led major initiatives including wind integration, seams coordination, and resource adequacy reforms, and has guided MISO’s operations through extreme weather events such as Winter Storm Uri and Hurricanes Laura and Ida. A recognized thought leader on the future of grid operations, Dr. Chatterjee chairs the CIGRE SC C2 Study Committee on System Operation and Control and serves on the Board of Directors of Reliability First Corporation. She holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology and a Master’s degree from the Indian Institute of Science.

Liu Zhichao

President of Beijing Sifang Automation Co., Ltd. and Director of Sifang Electric (Group) Co., Ltd.

He currently serves as Vice Chairman of the Relay Protection Professional Committee of the Chinese Society for Electrical Engineering (CSEE), Vice Chairman of the Offshore Wind Power Technology Professional Committee of CSEE, Member of the Consulting Work Committee of CSEE, Chairman of the Relay Protection and Automation Equipment Branch of China Electrical Equipment Industry Association (CEEIA), Director of Boao New-Type Power System Association, Executive Director of the DC Transmission Control and Protection Subcommittee of the IEEE PES DC Power System Technical Committee, Vice Chairman of Beijing Zhongguancun High-tech Enterprise Association, and Director of Zhongguancun Smart Energy Industry Alliance. With many years of experience in R&D and management of power system automation, his main research interests include power system relay protection, flexible HVDC transmission, and power electronic equipment. He has received 16 provincial/ministerial-level science and technology awards, including the First Prize of China Electric Power Science and Technology Progress Award, and holds 29 invention patents. He has been honored as a Beijing Model Worker and an Innovative Leading Talent under the "Haiying Talent" program.